This invention is in the field of charge transfer or charge coupled devices, and particularly in the field of such devices used for differentiating an electrical signal.
Charge coupled devices exhibit the advantages of low power consumption, small size and non-critical electrode biasing, which advantages in recent years have spurred extensive development of such devices. A major portion of such charge coupled device development activity has been directed towards providing improved charge coupled device shift registers which, for example, may be utilized for data storage or for implementing time delays in data processing. However, in many applications it is desirable to differentiate the data signal prior to its being processed by a charge coupled device and the heretofore methods of implementing the differentiation function, such as those using an operational amplifier or a digital computer having negated much of the size and power consumption advantages which might be gained by employing charge coupled devices for subsequent data processing. A significant aspect of the subject invention is a recognition of the fact that a differentiator device which could be implemented by means of fabrication techniques currently used to mechanize charge coupled devices would be a most significant advantage to the related art.